markjwilder | May. 11th, 2009

JoeyMark's Five-Star iPod Touch (or iPhone) games:

Croke : A crokinole game (think Canadian table-top shuffleboard) that is a lot of fun. The first release you had to flick the pucks which made it hard to control, but they added a "spring shot" that made it a bit easier. It's pretty, plays quick, and makes for a great distraction. $1.99
Doodle Jump : You have this little dude who just keeps jumping up and down. You tilt the device to move him left/right. He jumps from platform to platform, jumping higher and higher. The goal is to get as high as you can without falling off the platforms or hitting an obsticle (monsters, UFO's, black holes, many of which can be "shot". Addictive and fun and only 99¢.
Solitaire City Deluxe : I used to play this as a PC game in the mid-90's. It's got a lot of different types of solitaire and each type has a lot of options to change the difficulty. Global high-score tables with Daily/Weekly/Lifetime high scores give you soemthing to shoot for. It's a very nicely done program, though at $8 it's a bit pricy. There's a free "lite" version that has only two types of games.
Flight Control : This game is a recent find for me, so I've been playing it incessantly lately. In this game you land planes and helicopters in their appropriate locations by drawing flight paths for them. You keep going until you have a crash. The planes have different speeds and come in from all over, so you have to be aware of who can fly where. It's very addictive, frantic, and fun (and only 99¢).
Frenzic : A simple little timed puzzle game where you're putting wedge shaped pieces to make a circle. If you can get a circle filled in all one color, you get a score bonus and sometimes a special action as well. It's fun and tense with great controls that are perfect for the platform. A little more expensive than I'd like at $3.
Fieldrunners / The Creeps : These are two different tower defense games. Fieldrunners is an open-space game (you create the path the enemy takes by placing your towers appropriately) while The Creeps is a fixed-path game. Fieldrunners is more military (though still a bit cutesy) while The Creeps is totally cutesy (the monsters goal is to hide under your bed). The Creeps allow you to target one specific enemy, Fieldrunners does not. They're two different TD games but I like them both. If I had to choose, I'd probably lean towards The Creeps. Fieldrunners:$2.99, The Creeps $1.99 (on sale from normal $2.99).

Other games I like a lot:

Reiner Knizia's Poison : It's one of those board/card games that I love so much. It's a pretty good implementation. $3
UniWar: Turn-based strategy war game. I just started playing it, so it may move higher on the list. $5 (free trial version)
Warfare, Inc. : Real-time strategy war game. Used to play it all the time. Very well done. $5
Scopa: Italian card game that's a lot of fun. Same team has other Italian card game programs as well. Worth the $4.
Crayon Physics : Draw the components necessary to get the ball from point A to point B. Really pretty remarkable. See a video demo of the PC version at http://crayonphysics.com/. $5.
Fastlane Street Racing : A great racing game using tilt-to-steer mechanic. Very sharp graphics. $4. (I'm also interested to try out the similar Need For Speed.)
Bejeweled 2 : We've all played Bejeweled by now, right? $3.
3D Vector Ball : A 3-D ping pong game of sorts. Tilt the device to control the paddle. Not bad. 3D Spin Ball is a similar game that also adds curve to the ball, but I prefer the good looks of Vector Ball. Both are 99¢.
Scrabble : It's not a GREAT implementation, but it's a pretty good one. $5.
Scramble : It's like Boggle or the Scramble on Facebook. Pretty good, and very FREE.
Crosswords : It does crossword puzzles. Lots of download sites. Good controls. Expensive at $10.